First legal recreational marijuana dispensary opens in New York City

New York: New York's first legal recreational marijuana dispensary opened on Thursday in the heart of Manhattan. More than 100 people crowded into the dispensary in New York City's East Village, run by the non-profit Housing Works, a group dedicated to fighting homelessness and AIDS.

Governor Kathy Hochul, who oversees the fourth most populous US state said that, the first legal adult-use cannabis sales mark a historic milestone in New York's cannabis industry.

Hochul said in a statement that she expects New York to serve as a national model for the safe, equitable and inclusive industry we are now building.

Housing Works was among the first of 36 groups or individuals granted a retail marijuana license on



November 21.

The stated goal of New York is to grant the first 150 licenses to traders convicted in the past for possession or sale of cannabis.

Tax revenues from the marijuana dispensaries will be invested in communities across the state to support public schools, addiction services, mental health services, housing and other community-based programs.

For more than a year, it has been legal for adults over 21 to consume cannabis in the state of New York and in its flagship city the smell of weed fills the streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

City Hall expects 1.3 billion dollars in sales by 2023 and 19,000 to 24,000 new jobs in three years.